Nurses are often overlooked as the backbone of Healthcare

by Leonard S. Falchidi

Ask a reasonable person, who owns a television set about who is taking care of patients in a hospital setting. The answer you will get is that the doctors or physicians are doing this task. Primetime television shows like ER, Grey's Anatomy, House only to name a few, support the quick answer. The residents interact and spend time with the patients while the experienced physicians solve unimaginable health problems in a quick, elegant, economic, and effective fashion.

However, this is the Hollywood view, the makers of Star Wars trilogy, Harry Potter movies and other 'real life' based stories. Now, lets quit hovering the planet and land on earthly Canada's realities of year 2007 for a while. Therefore, the same question again, who is taking care of the patients in a hospital?

Two months ago, I visited the surgery suites of a major hospital. The tour was part of a nursing program orientation, designed for students to be exposed to the operation room (OR) environment. The austere surgical theatres, filled up with all the 'top notch' machinery and equipment left a lasting impression on the group. Yet, one event topped the experience.

While looking through a surgery suite small window, trying to get a glance on what is happening inside, the door opened and one smiling surgeon came out, and approached the group. His reason to do that was a 'sale pitch' about how great it was to work in the OR as a nurse. "Then, lets get to work and start making some money", he finished.

We are proud of our military, and we marked the Remembrance Day in early November by wearing poppies, among other celebrations. She met and married her husband forty years ago. The patient was a member of Canadian forces for over twenty years. Now, in her seventies, she needed a hip replacement. I met the couple, sitting quietly, in the waiting area of a surgery ward. In the last year, the hip replacement surgery was cancelled for three times. This time was looking good. Then the news came. Another cancellation for the same reason as before, no nursing staff to attend after the surgery. She left proud but with tears in her eyes.

The backbone of healthcare, the nursing staff, takes a less glamorous role in the television shows, but our hospitals, among other healthcare facilities, function because of it. As this is written, surgeries are cancelled because of nursing shortage, the burnout is high, since there are only so many extra shifts, a nurse can work, and hospital units are closing for the same reason.

Do I have an answer for this Canada-wide problem? No, I do not. However, next time you go to a hospital take note of what nurses do.

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